You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment (Henry David Thoreau)

September 2, 2009 7:01 AM

After hearing our show about moments of death, filmmaker Will Hoffman went out in search of moments of life. What follows is what he found. What is a moment? From the RadioLab Blog at WNYC, [via]
posted by localhuman (21 comments total)

Meh. Humans in general and American culture in particular are pretty moment-obsessed. The longer perspective is what's really invisible.
posted by DU at 7:07 AM on September 2

Wow.
posted by rusty at 7:19 AM on September 2

This is gorgeous. Radio Lab, even with it's scientific focus, is often transcendent.
posted by bigmusic at 7:28 AM on September 2 [2 favorites has favorites]

DU: The long is often a moment as well.
posted by bigmusic at 7:30 AM on September 2

Is this the thread where we talk about how much we love RadioLab? Because I love RadioLab.
posted by Uncle Ira at 7:31 AM on September 2 [1 favorite has favorites]

That was pretty great.
posted by empath at 7:35 AM on September 2

"Our" show? Is this a self-link courtesy on WNYC/Public Radio International?
posted by parmanparman at 7:35 AM on September 2

Saw this last week and enjoyed it, but a friend made an interesting point: if you watch it through once, and then once again with the music muted, you will (likely) have two different experiences. The music, I find, creates a kind of overarching dramatic narrative that actually detracts from the power of the piece; because the music acts as intended, as a unifying device, I found that it actually took precedence in my emotional response so that the first time I watched it I had a nice experience, got a little misty, but it was a fairly holistic emotional ride.

Watching a second time without sound, I found the film much more compelling--I attuned to each moment much more empathetically, and noticed facial expressions and body language more keenly. Without the music giving me emotional cues, I was having bursts of micro-feeling as I understood better what each person was feeling in the moments captured.

I think this piece, while lovely, is actually pretty ill-served by the music accompanying it. One must be aware of the power of music, and in this instance it undermines (and even co-opts) what should be the primary emotional thrust of the collage.

And yeah, Radio Lab is most excellent.
posted by LooseFilter at 7:42 AM on September 2 [2 favorites has favorites]

parmanparman: The italic text is quoted from the RadioLab Blog, linked.
posted by rusty at 7:43 AM on September 2

"Our" show? Is this a self-link courtesy on WNYC/Public Radio International?

Given that that bit is in italics, pretty clear it's quoted from Radio Lab's posting.
posted by LooseFilter at 7:43 AM on September 2

(Dammit! Use preview, self!)
posted by LooseFilter at 7:44 AM on September 2

Lovely.
posted by misha at 7:56 AM on September 2

LOVE Radiolab.
posted by HumanComplex at 8:08 AM on September 2

it took me a minute to realize that most clips are related to the preceding ones, usually by a mirrored or parallel motion
posted by Think_Long at 8:39 AM on September 2

Just jumping in to join the RadioLab love fest. RadioLab is brilliant. This video is brilliant. Carry on.
posted by diogenes at 8:52 AM on September 2

Radiolab!

Is this also where we can link our favorite segments on Radiolab? I love pretty much all the eps but hearing Ann Druyan talking about Carl Sagan on WBEZ one evening is what turned me on to the show and it remains my favorite bit.
posted by kmz at 8:56 AM on September 2

I'm gonna dissent. RadioLab annoys the hell out of me.
posted by fourcheesemac at 9:15 AM on September 2

beautiful.
posted by glaucon at 9:22 AM on September 2

God dammit people. Can we just put every thing Radiolab and Wired has ever created on here and call it a day?

No seriously, very neat.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:24 AM on September 2

sometimes behaves so strangely
posted by empath at 9:44 AM on September 2 [1 favorite has favorites]

RadioLab is awesome. My wife loves This American Life, but RadioLab is so much better. Especially since Ira Glass is mailing it in now.
posted by elder18 at 9:56 AM on September 2